SYNOPSIS
Tom at the Farm. Following the untimely death of his boyfriend, a young advertising copywriter named Tom travels to the sparse countryside of Quebec for the funeral. Upon arriving at the family home of his late partner, Tom is greeted with unexpected apprehension by the deceased’s grieving mother, and downright hostility by older brother, Francis. Slowly realising that the romantic nature of their relationship had been kept a secret, Tom finds himself involved in a dangerous game of deception, governed by the unpredictable and volatile Francis, who appears to be hiding a few dark secrets of his own. With a reputation for visual opulence, Xavier Dolan’s latest sees him working from a more muted colour palette than his previous films, boldly embracing the hostility of his rural environment. While this makes for a more restrained experience, the film is no less inventive in its visual language than we have come to expect from the young filmmaker. Based on the play by Michel Marc Bouchard, Dolan cleverly toys with the conventions of the psychological thriller, playing his hand close to his chest, creating an enigmatic, often challenging puzzle. Coolly emotional in its portrayal of grief and loss, Tom at the Farm is also a deviously sexy study of desire and duplicity.